MITCHELL — For a Hemingford woman, the annual Festival of Hope serves as an outlet for volunteering while remembering a loved one who died of cancer. Randy Dannar and Lori Dannar Lori Dannar’s husband, Randy, died in March 2011 of pancreatic cancer, after battling for two years. “He was a very jolly guy,” Lori said as she described her husband.
“He worked for the phone company, the Hemingford Telephone Company, and he was the Hemingford Volunteer Fire Chief for 20 plus years until he got sick.” While the couple were on a trip, she said, he turned yellow and doctors said his bilary duct, a tube that carries bile from the liver and gallblader through the pancreas and into the small intestine, had become plugged. He went to Cheyenne for treatment and during that appointment, a doctor tested him and found he had cancer.
As he underwent cancer treatment, she said, the couple became close with oncologist Vince Bjorling and his wife, Vicki, who worked in the chemotherapy lab at Regional West’s Cancer Treatment Center. Her husband underwent treatment over a year before deciding he wanted to discontinue chemotherapy. “He fought a courageous battle and Dr.
Bjorling was a true godsend. He was very honest and upfront with everything we went through, but very compassionate. And, Vicki is just amazing too.
” Through the Bjorlings, Lori learned about Festival of Hope, which will be held this year on Saturday, June 15. “They talked about Festival of Hope and the good that .